I often see cases involving constructive emancipation which typically arise when the child refuses to have contact with the non-custodial parent. If the contact cannot be reestablished after a period of time, the non-custodial parent can move to terminate the child support obligation, assuming that the non-custodial parent was not at fault for the breakdown in the relationship and the child is of the employeable age. Burden of proof ofconstructive emancipation rests on party making the assertion. Constructive emancipation cases are not easy to prove and are factually intensive.
A recent example of such case was Dewitt v. Giampietro, 66 A.D.3d 773 (2nd Dept. 2009). According to the Appellate Division, although the daughter refused to have contact with the father after some incident which was not described, the father ceased making attempts to reestablish contact with daughter after approximately one month. According to the Appellate Division, one month period of trying to reestablish a relationship with the daughter could not be considered as a serious effort by the father. The court also noted that the daughter testified that she loved her father and would be willing to re-establish visitation gradually through counseling. According to the Appellate Division, the child’s reluctance to see parent is not considered to be abandonment.
Accordingly, if a non-custodial parent is in a situation where the child of employable age, generally high school graduate or older, is refusing to have any contact with the parent, the parent must keep on trying to reestablish contact for a period of time in excess of several months. Any such contact may take several different forms, and phone calls, email, letters, postcards, and even text messages may be utilized. It is important that the parent remembers the child’s birthdays and other special occasions. Generally, the courts are reluctant to terminate child support and will do so only if the non-custodial parent will demonstrate that the continuing pursuit of the relationship with the child would be fruitless.